Techno-economic modelling & optimal dispatch of decentralised sustainable energy systems

Project aim

The project aims to enhance decision-making in industrial applications of sustainable systems. It would benefit both new and existing energy-efficient applications, with minimisation of the need for exhaustive manual calculations. The core is to optimise not only the design of sustainable installations but also their actual day-to-day operation.

Project background

As developed countries try to implement a transition from current fossil-based energy systems to green-powered solutions, economic, environmental, and social considerations need to be taken into account in order to invest in the optimal technologies. Choosing between green technologies can be particularly complex due to the wide range of variables, parameters, and constraints involved.

Examples of these factors are the technical potential of technology within a particular locality e.g. solar, wind, etc, the prevailing economics in the area, the available land area, the value drivers of the customer, the capital and operating cost of different technologies, the consumers’ energy use volume and behaviour, etc. Hence, decision-making is often time-consuming and difficult to handle with simple analytical approaches. The motivation for this research has been to develop methodologies and algorithms in order to ease decision-making when installing sustainable solutions, with an initial focus on fuel cells.